For many centuries, the outside world knew little of the Japanese way of life. Before the Meiji Restoration of 1868 – after which the country rapidly modernised and opened itself up to global trade – only a handful of books…
Associated with the 2019 British Library exhibition Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: art, word, war, these 14 short essays demonstrate the specialised scholarship that lies behind the choice and description of items in such an exhibition. The contents of each closely focused chapter…
The letters form part of the Honresfield Library, a private collection of manuscripts and books associated with some of the greatest writers in English and Scottish literature.
Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.
By analysing the proteins found in early modern legal records, a team of researchers have been able to prove that people in early modern Britain preferred to write their documents on sheepskin
No more waiting for photographs to be processed only to discover that half of them are under- or over-exposed or out of focus: we live in the age of selfies, and social media based on images taken with mobile phones that are many times more sophisticated than the cameras of the past, giving instant results. It is therefore easy to forget what a lengthy and difficult process it was to illustrate archaeological journals in the past. Chris Catling has been learning all about the ways in which archaeological illustration has evolved from an illuminating book produced to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Cambrian Archaeological Association.
Isabella (c.1427-1494) was the second daughter of James I of Scotland, and was given the manuscript by her husband, Duke Francis I of Brittany, on their marriage.
In the CA377 'News in brief' section, Kathryn Krakowka explores excavations in York, a survey of a warship wreck, and new inscriptions found in Anne Boleyn's prayer book.
Its contents are written in Latin, Scots, and Gaelic, and include contemporary annals, poetry, lists of Scottish kings and battles, and chronicles recording the deaths of prominent members of Highland society.
The story of Thomas Becket’s murder in AD 1170 still resonates after 850 years, despite the attempts of Henry VIII to eradicate all memory of the man that Henry II reportedly called ‘this turbulent priest’. Henry VIII called for the destruction of his shrine and the defacing of prayer books referring to his martyrdom. Even so, the Becket cult refused to die, and the British Museum has brought together an array of pilgrim badges and reliquaries, medals, paintings, and stained glass to show us why so many people in medieval Europe flocked to his Canterbury shrine. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.
Recently, researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have used the latest in AI technology to study the Great Isaiah Scroll (known as 1QIsaa), an ancient manuscript dating to the 2nd century BC that is considered one of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
It is believed that women would wear these girdles wrapped around themselves during the later stages of pregnancy and perhaps even during childbirth, but before now there was never any direct evidence for this.
In a way, I began to feel slightly more sympathetic to Henry VIII; the church was extremely powerful and if you are to oppose it, I suppose you must be ruthless.
A team of researchers have discovered evidence of a mistake made more than 700 years ago while investigating the painted Buddhist temples in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China.
Details of the latest and most interesting exhibitions.
Froissant claimed to have born witness, during his travels, to many of the battles that took place during the Hundred Years War, committing all he had seen and heard to writing in the form of elaborate illustrated manuscripts. Seema Syeda examines battlefield scoops through the ages.
What link is there between archaeology and a best-selling series of children’s books? To find out, Lucia Marchini tours the British Library’s major new exhibition.
The Scottish island of Iona was one of the most influential Christian centres in Early Medieval Europe. But how much of its first monastery, built in the 6th century, has survived to the present day? As 2013, the 1,450th anniversary of its foundation, approached, it was time to find out, as Peter Yeoman explains.